Eshel Rosen

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Hicks, Barbara

Area of Concentration

Political Science and Religion

Abstract

This thesis examines the effect anti-religious policies had on belief and practice in Russia during the Soviet period by examining that era and Post-Soviet Russia. Russian identity and governance have historically been tightly interconnected with the Russian Orthodox tradition, dating back to the baptism of Vladimir I in 988. Despite the deeply rooted tradition, Lenin implemented policies of repression to limit the role of religion in civil society. Throughout the Soviet period the state enforced many anti-religious policies that ranged in intensity. The main forms of repression were forced closures of churches, arresting of clergy, and preventing the religious education of youth under eighteen. At first these policies seemed ineffective, as during WWII the state supported a limited revitalization of the Russian Orthodox Church. In spite of the previous twenty years of anti-religious policies and propaganda, religious communities grew immediately under the control of the state. In the 1970s sociological studies found that Orthodox churches attracted few men or young people under 40, indicating that anti-religious education affected the development religious practice and, to some degree, of religious belief. In Russia today, Russian Orthodoxy has become a strong part of Putin’s rhetoric. In taking advantage of the disoriented state of the newly formed Russian Federation, Putin created a state-built identity that uses Orthodoxy to support his conservative and nationalist attitudes. This study finds that religious belief and practice were indeed affected by Soviet anti-religious policies, as they interfered with the process of socialization and cut off the reproduction of religious belief. That Putin has been able to utilize Russian Orthodoxy to rally support suggests that the role of Russian Orthodoxy in Russian identity continued even when religious practice was repressed and levels of belief ebbed under Soviet rule. This identity is being used to legitimize both Putin's authoritarianism and conservative policies.

Download

Share

COinS